"Old times there are not forgotten"
China invaded India and United States troops were placed in Thailand to guarantee Laotian sovereignty. American communists were barred from travel abroad. U.S. tanks were withdrawn from the Berlin Wall and the United States resumed nuclear testing in the atmosphere. Lt. Col. John Glenn, USMC became the first American to orbit the Earth in space by circling it three times in a Mercury capsule. The Cuban government began releasing prisoners captured during the Bay of Pigs invasion. President John F. Kennedy revealed the presence of Soviet offensive missles in Cuba, setting off a confrontation to become known as The Cuban Missle Crisis. Basketball star Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks.
New book titles: Ship of Fools, Another Country, Fail Safe, The Thin Red Line and Silent Spring.
At the movies: Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Miracle Worker and Sweet Bird of Youth.
On stage: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Stop The World - I Want To Get Off. My Fair Lady closed following 2,717 performances on Broadway.
Television: Walter Cronkite became the CBS Evening News anchor and Johnny Carson took over the Tonight Show.
At college, in military service or at work we listened to: I Left My Heart in San Francisco and If I Had a Hammer.
March 24
Woodrow Wilson High School won the Class A state basketball championship by defeating Wierton High School by the score of 71-69 in Morgantown. Beckley had trailed by 20 points at one point in the game. It was the seventh state basketball championship for Woodrow Wilson.
May 31
Classmate Norman Richard Meadows was released from active duty in the United States Army.
June 1
At Concord College's 87th annual commencement, classmates Betty Suddreth-Jamison, Charlene Carson, Kay Weikle-Davis and Sandra Lee Goodall received Bachelor of Science in Education degrees. Betty Suddreth-Jamison graduated Magna Cum Laude. Patricia Gail Fitzpatrick received a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics and Franklin Davis Heatherly received a Bachelor of Arts with double majors of psychology and English.
June 3
St. Francis DeSales Catholic School in Beckley graduated the school's first class of eighth graders.
June 4
At West Virginia University's commencement, classmate David Lloyd Craig received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Brenda Kay Booth received a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, Tamara Dale Harrah received a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, Shelby Lee Dozier and Sandra Kay Reed received Bachelor of Science degrees in Home Economics and Robert Staney Klein received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. West Virginia University also graduated the first 15 doctors of medicine in the history of the school.
June 4
Classmate Katherine Ingals Walker received an A.B. degree from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. Kitty's major was religon and her minor was history.
June 5
Classmate Nancy Fink received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian Linguistics from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
June 10
Classmate Susan Johnson received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Music from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia.
June 20
Classmate Michele Ellen Wender received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio State University.
July 15
Classmate Alfred French (Corky) Lively was released from active duty in the United States Air Force.
July 31
Classmate Alfred French (Corky) Lively married Muriel Clement, originally from Manchester, New Hampshire where the wedding took place. Corky was working for Vitro Labs in Wheaton, Maryland on a Polaris Submarine project and Muriel was employed by the Bell Telephone business office in Wheaton, Maryland at the time of the marriage.
August 11
Classmate Tamara Gale Harrah married Mike Jones, originally from Charleston, West Virginia. The wedding cremony was performed in the Methodist Temple in Beckley. Tamara was getting ready to start her first year of teaching in Morgantown, West Virginia and Mike was finishing his last year at West Virginia University at the time of the marriage.
August 15
Classmate Martha Jane Wood received a Diploma in Nursing from Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina.